Has the Nintendo Wii U Been Misunderstood This Whole Time?

TK: The Wii U’s success has been possibly limited by the family-friendly image of its highly-successful predecessor. For some gamers, it has been perceived as a high-def upgrade to the standard-def only Wii.

[WizzroSupreme]

Nintendo's always committed itself to making its hardware as timeless as its software, even if it's unpopular in the moment. Playstations and Xboxes come and go, but you'll likely hear about the Wii U's quality 20 yrs. from now.

Whether or not it's been a financial failure is more relevant to investors and grand-standing analysts, as is the Xbox One's success. Both companies are still around and making fantastic games. The Wii U's a "fun success" and that's why I'm still playing one.

[saadd20]

well maybe Nintendo is comfortable in their family-friendly image. I liked the Wii a lot, but the novelty wore out after Kinect and Move came.

[WizzroSupreme]

Their family friendly image is what won them the success they've enjoyed for generations – unlike PS and Xbox's focus towards your average, college-age male gamer.

The Wii brand was a mistake to repeat twice, indeed. It follows Nintendo's perpetual mistake of their "dual-brand" strategy, as I like to see it. Every NES and Gameboy has to be succeeded by a "super" version of itself. Sadly, consoles have been the company's hit-or-miss Achilles heel as opposed to handhelds.

The Move was a very cheap Wii imitation four years too late and I still feel like the Kinect's bound to change the industry as we see it gradually; it just needs to be optional like we've seen as of late.

[kneon]

The original move patents are now almost 15 years old, so no it's not a Wii imitation.

http://www.google.com/paten...

[saadd20]

yea..I had the NES and it was awesome. Been a PS guy for years now from the PS2 to the PS4. Xbox 360 rrod on me and I havent owned a Nintendo console since the NES and GameBoy.

[Concertoine]

Like all consoles, 20 years from now we'll see the games, not the droughts or the bad press or the online service. Even commercial failures like the Saturn or Turbo Grafx have respect post-mortem. And in that field the Wii U isn't doing too bad, but still not as good as the Gamecube did in the same timeframe.

The idea seemed dumb to me but now im for a hybrid handheld/console. If their software development studios could all work on the same console, there would be no drought. The Wii U was DOA because of a nearly year long drought right out the door, and that happened because all their studios were making 3ds games to save its ass.

[-Foxtrot]

The fear I have with a hybrid handheld/console is that they might end up sacrificing better performance/graphics/features on the console version for games incase the handheld can't support one of those things very well. You know different specs and all. If they were the same specs then I'm guessing it would be pretty expensive.

[Concertoine]

@Foxtrot

Well, if they advertise it as a 2 in 1 console they can sell it for 400 max i'd say. And for that money it could be plenty more powerful than the vita, which is on the edge of being powerful enough to produce console quality gaming.

I'm sure they could find a way. The difficulty, i think, would be differentiating between games primarily built for the handheld portion and the console portion at retail.

[-Foxtrot]

"but you'll likely hear about the Wii U's quality 20 yrs. from now"

I think what we'll really remember is

"Hey remember when Nintendo revealed the Wii U for the first time and they didn't even seem to know what it was...then they did the same the following year"

[spacedelete]

absolute nonsense. this false attitude that Wii U and only Nintendo consoles are fun need to stop. i have had plenty fun on non Nintendo consoles. if anything i feel sorry for Nintendo owners with the massive droughts you suffer. three years and Wii barely has 10 worthwhile games. even Nintendo have stated they have no plans for any Mario games to release on Wii U and the next Mario game will release on their next console. anyone who buys a Wii U deserves to have regret for wasting their money. the Wii U is dead and was in a coma since 2012.

[Spartacus10]

I agree. I will never understand why they are so fixated on the belief that they are the group that is having the most fun when gaming.

Please someone explain it to me.

[Omeganex9999]

I agree with Nintendo fanboys being annoying, but Wii U is a really good console and last year a lot of fun games came out. I don't know what to look for in 2015 though.

[thelwebb100]

Yup I agree! I can go back and play classics like Earthbound or A Link To The Past and they still hold up well. The same cannot be said for the majority of PS1, PS2 and Original Xbox games.

[TrollsBringer]

The only thing Nintendo has is Nostalgia.

[fanboysmackdown]

Nintendo's consoles have become niche consoles for Nintendo fans only. Playstation and Xbox owners can be swayed to the other for 1st party exclusives but Nintendo's don't give a shit attitude, we're gonna do it our way leaves the door closed for most 3rd party support which has killed the WiiU and the grannies don't have a bowling game this time around to save it.

[superchiller]

Nothing to "misunderstand". The Wii U is a feature-lacking, poorly-designed, gimmicky last-gen console, with an awkward, distracting Fisher Price wannabe tablet gimmick dragging it down. Nintendo bet once again that a gimmick tied to cheap hardware would reel people in, but this time it failed. The anemic library of games, abandonment by 3rd parties, and lack of entire genres of games have led to its poor sales and rejection by all but the most diehard Nintendo fans.

Maybe for their next console, if there is one, they'll finally realize that gimmicks alone don't make a product worthwhile.

[marloc_x]

Mmm..it reeled in Kaz.

Twice :)

[Concertoine]

I think it was Shu Yoshida who bought two wii u's.

[jcnba28]

Says the guy cant stop commenting in Nintendo articles. Keep trolling kid.

[N8]

For me all Nintendo would have to do is release a console with equal CPU power to current gen and a good controller and I would be all over it. I like Nintendo exclusives just not enough to purchase a console for.

[iliimaster]

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref... just look at the price difference you would think itd be the other way around screw watchdogs

[InTheLab]

Misunderstood? No, the WiiU is exactly what everyone thinks it is and it's especially what Nintendo wanted it to be.

Instead of advertising to the masses they went spam ads on Nick and Disney. The article says people don't know the difference between the Wii and WiiU when in reality, there is no difference. N targeted the same audience that made them a success last gen only the latest gimmick didn't work. WiiU fit failed and kids already own tablets.

Instead of making their console attractive to 3rd party, Nintendo did what they always do and made a console for EAD and Retro. How many articles were there about Sony partnering with 3rd party and asking what they want out of a console. Maybe the Wii3 should go that route instead of whatever gimmick Miyamoto cooks up.

I was a fan of the Bayonetta 2 move when everyone else were bitching about it. It was a move that showed Nintendo's strength. Instead of begging for ports, they went out and spent money to fill a need, which is more hardcore titles. So Bayo has come and gone and N has made very little effort to secure more quality hardcore titles....and I don't mean random trash like Devil's third.

Nintendo, as I'm told by just about all the hardcore fans on this site, has plenty of money. More than Sony and damn near as much as MS. So why is it that MS has Tomb Raider and Sony has Street Fighter? Surely N can write a few checks to compete? Why not go after bigger titles instead of Niche games? Spend those billions Nintendo. Why not pay for ads on the few 3rd party games like Sony with Destiny or MS with Dragon Age? I know some of you believe it's up to publishers like EA and Ubi but you are wrong.

So a lot of you Nintendo guys probably consider me a hater. I only say what I say because I'm honest and because I grew up a Nintendo gamer back when they were great, and it saddens me that they are now beyond mediocre. They made a half ass console and made no effort to appeal to 3rd party and with no major gimmick like the Wii, they are selling 2 to 3 million consoles a year and they deserve it.

So there's nothing to misunderstand. They played it safe trying to appeal to soccer mom and children and here we are today. Highly rated exclusives and nothing else to play on an incomplete console...

[Concertoine]

I agree. But i dont understand your definition of Devil's Third as random trash. That game is the child of one of the industry's most acclaimed creators. Itagaki has massive cult appeal in Japan and the US. I doubt Devil's Third will be as successful as Ninja Gaiden or DoA, but considering it was probably going to die otherwise it was a good, probably cheap snag by Nintendo. Really, its no different than Bayonetta. It looked rough at E3 but i think nintendo just wanted to make it clear they had hardcore games at such a big event.

I think the issue is that these are very niche third party games theyre funding. Fatal Frame, Bayonetta, Devil's Third are the kind of games you fund after you have plenty of people to sell to. With the gamecube they chose big names like Resident Evil and Star Wars, which was a wiser choice. I think their failure to purchase Atlus was a huge mistake. Shin megami tensei and all their other IP's would be a huge deal as exclusives.

[N4g_null]

Actually it is bad buisness to buy ports or exclusives. Sony is going to loose a ton off sf5 because I'll get it on pc. Ms lost a ton off ryse titan fall and even the price drop.

You are stuck in a sea of bribery. That is not good buisness. These efforts are not getting true gaming efforts in development. You get hit squads that don't understand gaming.

Nintendo is supporting the true game designers. The only thing nintendo has been fighting is a projected dismissal from devs and certain gamers.

Now nintendo understands game play they just don't understand movie making and Hollywood style pr or high end tech pr.

Miyamoto is an industrial engineer not a fine arts or performing arts minded guy. Nintendo needs a booth worth of Siggraph. They need a new arm since the gamers they use to service have moved up stream. Yet they need to continue to be an entry gate for new comers young and old.

As a whole the industry has lost it self and only story gamers make up the masses now. In 4 years many of the wii owners will be in high school or finishing college. Some will need a cheap system and some will want the best.

Nintendo could meet that challenge. This is the dynamic I'm seeing. The true fans will buy the best nintendo console while the others just want a very cheap nintendo exclusive machine. They are never going to open up to more than that. Now that r and d has been combined. The service has to be created. Tech sustainable by that service can encompass the better life objective also.

I would build a team hired off any high end 3d modeling group to build out their cgi. From there you can see what gaming wants to be. Some 3rd parties can be brought in also.

Nintendo needs a low end, mid range and a super high end to cover the market. The best thing to do when everyone is talking smack is to re energize and expand. Yes they need a box for 3rd parties but they need a team that can golden eye their way past 3rd parties. Basically sony and ms have completed the transition to pc gaming and even have x86 cpus and pc gpus to boot.

So yeah they are dealing with a collapsed pc market that has retreated to console gaming.

The handheld is their last line of defense. Acting now can actually cuase a huge up sing for nintendo. HD team are easily assembled now it just that coding and tech research for future platform can be a pain.

Nintendo gold egg is the operating system that scales to low end, mid range and super high end. Actually some of your favorite game designer build with block first while the graphical team makes the highest end art and then funnels that into an engine.

One api os to run them all and then nintendo will be playing with power.

[Spotie]

...so you realize Sony will still get money from your PC copy, right? They're not just buying exclusivity, but funding development, if not actively helping with said production.

I find it funny: games are telling better, more engaging stories, and certain fanboys dismiss those games as being movies because their console of choice has none, or not any that are as good. It's sad that you're so quick to downplay other companies' successes just to make your company look good; why not let Nintendo's merits stand on their own?

[N4g_null]

I find it telling that you think I care if sony gets any of my money. My pc is workstation class for my oldest one in the living room. I think I'll be playing sf5 on the better platform pc... no paid online, no paid online going down.

About movie gaming.... I'm an adult, I want the best and if sony wants to makes story games I'm all for it. I loved games like chronotrigger, secret of mana, shadow of the collousis, hl2, ff3, yet when all I'm gonna get is story and mediocre gameplay I'll pass.

In am way this negates the advantage of it being a video game. If I don't enjoy the game why am I putting myself thur the chore of playing it, when I could be watching Hollywood movies, really great adult dramas or seasons worth of content.

I'm only asking sony to join the other adults in creating better stories if that is their main selling point.

I've even said that nintendo should give this a try also and create a whole studio that does only that.

Stories are big business now yet in my opinion they are not good stories. They remind me of teenage fiction at best.you read or see them once and throw them away. They just don't have story telling down. Sony should hire some real writers and treat the ps4 as if it was a cable network of tv shows. In my mind they are competing with starz, amc, HBO and any movie that comes out since you know I'm an adult.

I only champion nintendo when they do things I like. So far they are the only real game company in a games industry. Sony had over 20 years to get better at gameplay yet now we got super casual one step removed from point and click adventures. So if ms truly learns how to do gamepl then I'm in. The same goes for samsung, apple, amazon, nec, sega, Google, sony or nintendo.

I don't talk about sony much since they are never going to try to appeal to a gamer like me. I remember when I had a huge sony tv the sound system and Sony was the new apple. 4 ps2s later and the root kit along with some shady dealings made me stand of fish to them. I have a ps3... love for God of war not much else. As a company there is so much I don't agree with but I hope they survive enough to change and get better.

[randomass171]

Actually the only thing that made me think you were a hater was that before you were constantly insulting people who liked the Wii U. I still disagree with third party marketing. I don't see why third parties can't be held accountable for the quality and marketing of their own games. I love Sony and I also love Shadow of Mordor on PS4, but I can't attribute any of its success to Sony themselves because it was made by Monolith Soft and published by Warner Bros. Nintendo's failure in marketing was in the Wii U console itself. You haven't played Devil's Third so how can you know it's trash?

[Teapot]

Just logged on to point out that Shadow of Mordor was made by Monolith Productions, which is owned by Warner Bros.

Not to be confused by Monolith Soft, which is owned by Nintendo.

[InTheLab]

If I were constantly insulting people I'd be a one bubbler. You've confused me with someone else. I don't attack people. You can comb through my comments and you'll never see me insulting anyone...

The only time I'm ever commenting is when people lie about the profitability of the GC and N64, or to express my disappointment in Nintendo for one thing or another.

As for the Devil's third, it looks terrible so I called it trash. Surely you can watch and read up on something and form an opinion, right?

Or does that only work when we're praising a game?

[JacketsNest101]

Not Monolith Soft, Monolith Productions. If it were MonolithSoft, it would have been a Wii U exclusive.

[randomass171]

"You Nintendo guys say the most off the wall craziness on this site and have zero evidence to back it up."

This was on your first page of comments. I'm guessing you are saying that Nintendo can't make a profit while selling low Wii U numbers? I'm pretty sure they actually did that this past quarter. I don't think you intend to insult people all the time but I do think you look for reasons to talk down to people who like Nintendo and Microsoft. Anyway what you say is your prerogative. I'm not one for negativity so I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I'd be pretty miserable if I spent most of my time just hating things that I don't like and not saying nice things about what I like. With Devil's Third if I said the game was awesome you would be telling me that I can't think it's awesome because I haven't played it yet. Yes you can form an impression based on trailers but that's not what your comment on the game suggested to me it sounded far more certain than an impression.

[InTheLab]

Is that an insult? I could have said the guy was crazy as shit for for saying what he said but I stuck with a generalization. I didn't directly attack anyone.

[randomass171]

It can be taken as such for any fans that might not even agree with the comment. Like I said it's your prerogative to say what you want but I don't see why I should take your views seriously if you are going to generalize people based on the comments of one person crazy or not. It seems more mean spirited than constructive to me that's just my opinion.

[welly300]

Great system for family games and would recommend it to anyone who likes local multiplayer games but online and the cute interface is a down side for me. Shame it can't play DVDs and the touch great idea but screen feels cheap.

[BenqMagician]

Look if Nintendo released a Wii u lite version with no gamepad but a pro controller sell the console for $75 less. Plus gave developers a choice of what controller to use we should see more 3rd party support and sell a lot more consoles. Nintendo has us thinking the gamepad is needed just like Microsoft had us believing Kinect was needed. We don't need any of that we want a game console. Look at Sony the ps4 is pure game console and how many are sold right now?

Who's number 1 in worldwide sales not Microsoft and not Nintendo. The reason is Microsoft had bad pr(polices) ,weaker hardware ,selling $100 more then the ps4 which has Bette specs. Nintendo did release there console a year early, the name Wii u was a bad choice, selling a console which on average is 1.5 or 2 times better then a 360 I acknowledge the Wii u has more ram, mere esram, better gpu chip but it's CPU is a 3 core 1.3ghz CPU(that's why it's hard too get good ports from a 360 game(360 CPU is a 3 core 3.2 GHz). Also I did have a white basic 8Gb Wii u for a year and after a few months wished I didn't have too use The gamepad at all(i did have a pro controller and I think it's the best current gen controller). Then the Wii u was losing 3rd party support games that should be on all 3 consoles so I traded it away.

The Wii u is a good console that is being held back by Nintendo and they don't care they have almost no 3rd party support all they care about is selling there 1st party games. Has Nintendo paid too advertise a 3rd party game this gen and has Nintendo taken out the gamepad gimmick like Microsoft now sells the x1 without Kinect. Have they no because they are testing the waters for there console/handheld fusion product. Good luck Nintendo next time when u shrink not only your console base and handheld base but your company as a whole.

[N4g_null]

Sony is about to be dealing with the atari effect and the same issue nintendo has but worst. 3rd parties have decided not 5 port to the wiiu. The only difference is Nintendo has a better gpu shader interface. Every one uses a fixed function call system for their shaders right now. Nintendo is using some great new tech in their next batch of games.

Nintendo was just caught with their pants down. Every one knew it would take nintendo a while to get hd ready. Nintendo tuaght in good faith that 3rd parties where going to port but had no idea that they would rail against gpgpu graphical changes. They have a bunch of duck hunts and Marios now. In the middle are mariokart and bayo2 along with smash. Xenoblade is going to be great. Like a real nintendo anime. A few ads on adult swim and it should do good. Zelda is going to be great also. Maybe even zelda one great. Save your money up something tells me this year will be a repeat of the the over hyped broken games. Or play on pc for a while.

It is entirely possible all the negativity just got to you.

[superchiller]

@BenqMagician - I agree with most of your comments, but you point out yourself that the Wii U has a worse CPU than the 360, which came out 8 years before it. That makes it hard to classify as a "good console" as you say. It is also missing many, many features that are commonly expected in modern day consoles (like an internal HDD, ethernet port, analog triggers, USB 3.0, etc.); these features were clearly left out to accommodate the high cost of the gimmicky gamepad.

In my opinion, Nintendo always sets the hardware bar as low as possible, to keep their profit margins up for the lifecycle of the hardware. They did this with the Wii, made tons of money from it, but the fad/gimmick wore off and the Wii died years ago, while the 360 and PS3 are still going fairly strong.

It's Nintendo's philosophy to make the cheapest possible hardware, leaving out commonly expected features and gimping others, then throwing in a gimmick to make it sell. That philosophy did work for a while, with the Wii, but failed miserably with the Wii U.

For me personally, I can't stand gimmicks that don't add to gameplay, I just want a solid console with a solid, conventional controller that is designed to play games, period. That's why I went with a PS4 this generation, not an XB1, even though the 360 was a huge favorite of mine last generation (still own multiple 360s and hundreds of games). The Kinect is also a gimmick, I don't want it and I don't think it adds anything to the gaming experience on the XB1, which is why I skipped the console.

[marloc_x]

Did you tap this out with a DS4?

Your poor thumbs schiller..

[JacketsNest101]

Things is, the Wii U is not weaker than the 360. It's several times more powerful than the 360. 2 gigs of RAM goes a long way towards making a console more powerful.

[JacketsNest101]

The problem is that regardless of whether or not Nintendo drops the gamepad (which would be a monumentally stupid decision for reasons that aren't really relevant here) the price would only drop about 90 dollars, so 75 is out of the question. Even then, if they did drop the pad, developers still would not flock to their system. Like it or not, there is a stigma against Nintendo in the industry. For one reason or another third party developers seem hellbent on ruining Nintendo's third party support through bad games and poor attempts at multi-platform ports. This history of bad third party games has led third parties to believe that Nintendo gamers only buy Nintendo games and has given them no incentive to put games on the system. Part of the fault lies with Nintendo for not having better relationships with third party developers, but there is no denying the fact that third party devs do not put in the effort required to make their Wii U games actually sell well. If they want to get third party support back, then they need to fund third party exclusives to rebuild the third party fan base on the console, which is exactly what they are doing with Bayonetta 2 and Devils Third. A lot of developers are scared of the system, not because of the gamepad, but because of a small install base. When the Wii U gets a bigger install base (it's around 8 million right now which honestly should be more than enough):one that is big enough to satisfy third parties, then they will start putting games on the system.

[superchiller]

Like many other diehard Nintendo fans, you blame 3rd party devs for not "optimizing" their games for the Wii U, but you ignore the elephant in the room: the Wii U is genuinely too weak to handle multiplats, primarily because of its weak CPU (far weaker than both the 360 and PS3 CPUs). Stop making excuses for Nintendo's poor hardware, wake up and demand that they produce better products next time! You people are enablers that allow Nintendo to get away with these kinds of cheap products, instead of encouraging them to do a better job on their hardware designs. I bet you have excuses for the awful Wii also?

[killagram]

Wii U is an excellent console if you're in the business of enjoying finely tuned re-releases. Mario Kart, Mario Party, Mario World are all games released on previous generations but now they've been retooled with HD graphics and features not available in previous versions (online connectivity, enhanced modes, etc). I've owned many consoles from the original Atari Pong up until the PS4 and I can faithfully say Wii U is only misunderstood if can't appreciate a console for pure fun and nothing else.

[kakashi81]

I feel that Nintendo should've made the console strong enough for last gen games to be 1080P at least. It don't make sense that Arkham city and Origins run slower because of the CPU...smh

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Try asking the third parties why they didn't optimize it.
I mean, they didn't even have the motivation to include the majority of the content in their multiplats; it stands to reason that they were also too lazy to take the time needed to optimize it to that standard when the system could totally have made it happen with last-gen's graphics.

[kakashi81]

c'mon bro,we have last gen games that came out the gate 1080P 60fps on the PS4 and Xbox one at least we could get a few 1080P games.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Again, that's on devs to make or break.
If their games could run at 1080P on PS3 or 360, there's no excusing it when they can't make it do the same on the more powerful Wii U with the right optimization.

[randomass171]

If Nintendo can make 1080p60fps games I don't see what is holding the third parties back. :/

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

The fact that so many pro-Wii U comments up top got a huge amount of downvotes tells me EXACTLY what kind of people I'll be dealing with in this article...

Caution to the wind, then!

Short answer: Yes. It's not getting the higher sales that its library says it deserves, and that's due to the console wars and people who are too stubborn to go multiconsole.

Long answer: Yes, it's been misunderstood.
It hasn't had the same advertisement hype as the other two, which is the biggest reason why it's not selling.
If they advertised it even half as much as the Wii, let alone the PS4 or XBone, it would be at 10M and more by now.
People want to chalk down the low sales to the console sucking, but that's just console war soldier talk for "I'm too cheap to get a Wii U for all these games, here's all these bullshit excuses I use to hate on the system, please go third party Nintendo!" [And comments like these happen in nearly the same breath that they call Nintendo games "too childish for their tastes", indicating they wouldn't support Nintendo as a third party, either. Which leads into my next point]

The notion that they're also STILL focused more on casuals than core gamers, that their games aren't good enough for mature gamers to be able to enjoy, is also a running misconception.
The casuals are all still on Wii or phones/tablets.
The Wii U is mostly relying upon core gamers at this point, and considering consoles are all a popularity contest to core gamers [due to all the over-inflated hype surrounding the graphics/resolution wars], the system isn't seeing the sales that its games would otherwise justify.

[BenqMagician]

Look MS/SONY are still selling 360/ps3 and that hurts Nintendo(3rd party's developer's are still releasing games on the 360/ps3) 99% are not releasing on the wii u.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Well, when that 99% is virtually guaranteed to be lacking in development care, like the 99% of multiplats on the Wii U during its first year, they don't really matter more to the system than the 1% of good exclusives do.

Look, just like everyone else, I'd love to see multiplats become popular on the Wii U.
But if they're not done right, if third parties don't want to do them right so that they can save on production costs, then the simple truth of the matter is that the Wii U is better off without the multiplats, and has a better chance of selling well by relying upon contracting exclusives and upping its own in-house game numbers by creating new development teams.

[SpiralTear]

Ya buy it for good exclusives. It's the same situation as the Gamecube, which was also a great console with incredible exclusives and barely any third-party support.

Install base is what determines what console gets what. Install base and who has the money to splurge on timed exclusives.

[benji101]

The wii u is not misunderstood. Consumers misunderstand that the ps4 and xbox one are not really very good consoles. The wii u is a great console with one major drawback, the company that makes it is not willing to bribe third party developers for games to be released on the system, well not without Nintendo getting full ownership and publishing rights.

Most people may not know that EA tried to get Nintendo to pay for the promotions of Need for speed U. And when Nintendo did not pay for it the devs through a hissy fit and blamed Nintendo for the game failing to sell due to being late. The dev was the guy who wrote to Eurogamer calling the wii u a piece of crap! Just bitter. And EA went on a smear campaign. Ubisoft also smeared the Wii u.
These companies are rotten to the core. Nintendo does not need them but so called core gamers want their sports games.

[ChickenOfTheCaveMan]

Misunderstood, nah, that's the wrong perspective because it blames the consumers. It was "mismarketed" :), the name is dumb and that controller is awful.

It was also sold 100$ more than the Wii and casual gamers don't pay big bucks for their system. 3DS had some of the same issues at the beginning and Nint just re-did them (price, features most users don't care about).

And finally, I know a lot of you guys don't like this argument because it's fun games first, but this system is under powered and on top of core gamers not well represented on the Wii U for games like AC, you'll always have articles of how bad the game looks on Wii U compared to the other 2 so consumers will look away for 3rd party games, so that's another reason the 3rd party support isn't there and why the console isn't appealing.

[NeoGamer232]

The Wii U is not misunderstood by gamers. I have one myself but it is my second favourite console behind the X1.

The issue with the Wii U is that gamers expect a full online experience now-a-days and the Wii U doesn't have near the online features as XBL or PSN. Also, gamers expect trophies/achievements in every game and the Wii U does not mandate it. Also, gamers expect very strong social features that are not in the Wii U.

Then, there is the console itself. Gamers expect hard drives for storing a lot of content. Also, developers expect the hard drive and more physical memory to make their games. And finally, many gamers expect basic features like Blu-ray and DVD playback which are not on the Wii U.

Really, the Wii U offers a different game experience then the X1 and PS4 in a good way. Mario, Zelda, Pikimin, are all games I love... But, the lack of features I expect from experience on my X1 and PS4 really hold the console back. If they delivered a console that had the game differentiation they have and all the basic features gamers expect I think they would do a lot better.

[benji101]

What do gamers want?

[BenqMagician]

The problem is the wii u is not mainstream this gen but the ps4 is this gen only with the best specs and I changed my mind on Nintendo should drop the price of the wii u. Reason is the ps4 is the most expensive console this gen and it's selling like hotcakes and we don't care at all because we want it and don't want a wii u.

[NeoTribe]

Weak hardware, no adult oriented games, weak to no third party support. Fact.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Can handle 1080P 60 FPS, Bayonetta 2 and Devil's Third on top of multiplats from last gen like Assassin's Creed, CoD, Batman, etc, and indies count as third party support.

You don't know what the fuck you're talking about.